7 July we flew from Oslo to Stockholm on the second leg of our Scandinavian + Baltic countries’ tour. Norway had been beautiful – more enchanting than what one had seen in books and brochures. Nature’s beauty can never be captured on paper!
To read about my Norway experience, read the first blog of the series here.
Harsh’s NDA course-mate (who exited during NDA training itself), Chou, was there to receive us at the airport. No change in him, despite having settled in Sweden for decades and married locally! The car looked it could do with some vacuuming, lived up to its looks when it refused to start after a lunch halt midway from the airport! Networks work, and soon a Gujju-origin friend driving a Mercedes turned up, luckily having a jump-start cable in his car. Chou bought a jump-start cable set at the next gas station as it looked a necessity now onwards. This was needed the next morning itself when a neighbour was called for with his car to assist. Chou was a genial host and lived above his jewellery shop located in the old town area of Gamla Stan, the prime tourist destination of Stockholm. We settled in on the air mattress in his office for our stay here.
Stockholm was a beautiful city and there were unlimited things to see and do. Staying in the town centre, most of the major tourist attractions were within walkable distance.
A boat cruise through the town showed most important sights, which we followed by visiting the more important ones like the Royal Palace and the Royal Armoury (excellently displayed exhibits), National Museum, Grand Hotel – the venue for Nobel Prize ceremonies and few more. Sweden has a long history of strong empires and kings. The museums were full of their glorious past, but the British-oriented school history we studied has ignored it, understandably.
This royal residence has been in the same location by Norrström in the northern part of Gamla stan in Stockholm since the middle of the 13th century when the Tre Kronor Castle was built. The medieval Tre Kronor Castle which was destroyed in a fire on 7 May 1697. The present was completed in 1754, built at the same location. No major conversions have been done in the palace since its completion.
The palace consists of 1,430 rooms of which 660 have windows. In addition to housing the National Library and museums, the palace also provides a workspace for about 200 employees.
The Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren) is a museum in the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. It contains many artefacts of Swedish military history and Swedish royalty. It is the oldest museum in Sweden, established in 1628.
The National Museum was founded in 1792 as Kungliga Museet (Royal Museum). The present building was opened in 1866, when it was renamed the Nationalmuseum.
For two days in between Chou drove us to his home in Vadstena, a picturesque town on the shore of Vattern lake.
We stayed at their beautiful house and the view of the town from the attic window was phenomenal, with the Vattern Lake visible above the colourful rooftops.
The picturesque town is steeped in history, with the famous Abbey of Our Lady and of St. Bridget dating from 1384 AD established here.
Maria, Chou’s wife took us around the town and to visit the Abbey and its Church, and the Museum (Vadstena klostermuseum). From there we walked across to the Vadstena Castle, another landmark of the town. The Vadstena Castle is on the lakeshore and is in excellent condition. It is one of Sweden’s best-preserved castles from the era of Gustav Vasa in the 16th century when Sweden became Protestant.
The Castle 
Our guide
Maria had booked tickets for a Choir Symphony held inside the Abbey in the evening. It was a novel experience for us.
It turned out that Maria was one of the famous choir singers of Europe! Her daughter, Sangita, had inherited her mother’s talents and gave a lovely performance at their home.
We drove down to their summer house, located inside the nearby forests, on the lakeside. It was a beautiful quiet place with a smattering of fruit trees and blooming flowers.
The Town Hall is Sweden’s oldest, dating back to the early 15th century. Notable is the main street (Storgatan) where all the shops are gathered, as they would have been during the Middle Ages.
After returning to Stockholm, we had a day left in which we managed to see some of the sights we had missed out on. The return drive was not accompanied by rain and we had a chance to enjoy some of the breathtaking sights of the Swedish countryside.
The last day before leaving was spent mostly walking in the Old Town and the waterfront, both of which were teeming with holiday goers. It had been a lovely stay in Sweden, and the hospitality of Chou, Marie and Sangeeta made it all the more memorable.
The iconic Grand Hotel opened in 1872 at the same time as the Grand Hotel in Oslo; all the Scandinavian capitals have a major hotel called ‘Grand Hotel’. The hotel is famous for hosting the Nobel Prize Banquet annually, after the award ceremony.
Time spent with Chou was never without its surprises. The last one he gave was on the drive to the airport to drop us off on 15th July. There was a big traffic jam on the highway and as luck would have it, not much time left to check-in! Chou used all his “taxi driver” skills and by the time we reached the airline counter on the run, it had just closed. An imperfect end to a perfect stay. However, a little bit of pleading made the woman on the counter allowed us to check-in. And where awaited the next surprise! Our tickets did not permit any free check-in luggage! And with us already late, there was no time to discuss anything. So we shelled out the Euro 65 charges slapped on us!
At least we caught the flight.
To read the next blog of the series of my travels through Finland, click here.
The links to all the blogs in the series are listed below:-
- Norway – https://collectingmoments.in/my-trip-to-norway/
- Finland – https://collectingmoments.in/stunning-finland/
- Estonia – https://collectingmoments.in/exploring-estonia/
- Latvia – https://collectingmoments.in/latvia/
- Lithuania – https://collectingmoments.in/lithuania-the-land-of-a-forgotten-past-and-the-romuva/
- Poland – https://collectingmoments.in/poland-the-phoenix-which-rose-from-dust/
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